Trump Administration Is Trying To Remove Official Recognition Of Transgender People, Celebs React

By Reuters and Globalnews.ca.
23 Oct 2018 7:33 AM

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The government of U.S. President Donald Trump is attempting to strip transgenderpeople of official recognition by creating a narrow definition of gender as being only male or female and unchangeable once it is determined at birth, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

The Department of Health and Human Services has undertaken an effort across several government departments to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex, the Times said, citing a government memo that it obtained.

That definition would be as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals a person is born with, the Times reported.

Such an interpretation would reverse the expansion of transgender rights that took place under the previous administration of President Barack Obama.

It would also set back aspirations for tolerance and equality among the estimated 0.7 per cent of the population that identifies as transgender. Most transgender people live with a profound sense that the gender assigned to them at birth was wrong and transition to the opposite sex, while others live a non-binary or gender fluid life.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declined to comment on what she called “allegedly leaked documents” but cited a ruling by a conservative U.S. district judge as a guide to transgender policy.

Ruling on a challenge to one aspect of the Affordable Care Act, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas found in 2016 that there was no protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

A leading transgender advocate called the government’s reported action a “super aggressive, dismissive, dangerous move.”

“They are saying we don’t exist,” said Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Rights, in an interview.

The Obama administration enacted regulations and followed court rulings that protected transgender people from discrimination, upsetting religious conservatives.

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The Trump administration has sought to ban transgender people from military service and rescinded guidance to public schools recommending that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.

A draft of the Trump administration memo says gender should be determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” the memo says, according to the Times.

Medical science seeking to explain what makes people transgender is in its infancy.

Psychiatrists no longer consider being transgender a disorder and several U.S. courts have found the Obama interpretation of protecting transgender people against discrimination as sound. But the Trump administration has chosen to abide by the ruling of O’Connor, the Times said.

“The court order remains in full force and effect today and HHS is abiding by it as we continue to review the issue,” Roger Severino, the director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

See some of the celebrity reaction below:

The government may be living in an alternate universe, but we as a society & culture know who we are and know our truth and must stick together and raise our voices so we can educate them about gender identities. #TransRightsAreHumanRights#WontBeErased

Trump Administration Eyes Defining Transgender Out of Existence via @NYTimesFk These Ppl.Will MY SON Be Sent To INTERNMENT CAMP 2 Live with LATINO Children,& Be Kept In Cages in Places where🇺🇸Cant See Them.THIS IS”HIS CODE”4,..MAKE THEM DISAPPEAR #MBShttps://t.co/UrXYSo5vK5

I can’t begin to express the rage I feel toward an administration that is trying to redefine me out of existence. Just another gift for his small minded base, terrified of the diversity that has always made America exceptional! #Votehttps://t.co/OrAPEnaK9r

I woke to this. I'm honestly terrified. Basically TRUMP asked every gov agency define sex as only man or woman NOT Changable. only birth sex will be valid. disputes to be settled by genetic tests. He's already put people in charge who will approve this.https://t.co/pMDm3hzD1Z

Dear Trump: You don't tell women what to do with their bodies.You don't get to define gender.You don't have the qualifications to do so.You don't have a spine.You don't have a clue.We won't take this lying down.November is coming.Look how orange you fucking look girl…

-Gender variant humans should sustain the right of self determination. Precolonial tribes of people all recognized the validity of varying gender identities and occupation. Gender variance has been a cultural construct for centuries before colonial rule-

Jazz Jennings also took to Twitter to write, alongside a YouTube clip: “I am not afraid. Us transgender and gender non-conforming people have been declaring our existence for so long and have only continued to grow stronger in our voices. If we were ever going to be eradicated, it would’ve happened long ago. Love all.”

I am not afraid. Us transgender and gender non-conforming people have been declaring our existence for so long and have only continued to grow stronger in our voices. If we were ever going to be “eradicated,” it would’ve happened long ago. Love all💜💗💜 https://t.co/zoSw9CgR0L

Caitlyn Jenner then told People, “The Trump administration has ferociously attacked my community again. Just as an FYI Mr. President— the military is the single largest employer of trans people in the world. This leaked memo is an unacceptable attack on my community.